Page:Cassier's Magazine Volume XV.djvu/252

240 one roof of electric lighting and electric tramway systems.

But there are other and probably greater effects which the electric motor will produce with its more complete adoption in the near future,—the writer refers to the beneficial effects upon the trade and productions of the country,

TABLE GIVING NUMBER OF ELECTRIC MOTORS DRIVEN FROM ELECTRIC LIGHT MAINS IN DIFFERENT TOWNS

and the hygienic and social effect on the community generally. In the first of these aspects it is possible to foresee the revival once more of a number of small and independent industries, such as existed, but under very different conditions, in former years. The possibilities are already being grasped by the artisan in France, Germany, Switzerland, and the United States. By the aid of the electric motor he begins to find that he can at least hold his own in competing with immense manufacturing concerns and combinations; he has a practically unlimited available power at his own door,—which is a great boon to the artisan, and one which offers him an inducement to become his own master.

In a very small and limited degree the gas engine has already accomplished something in this direction, but its many imperfections, its cost, and the fact that it has never been available on the hire system, have kept it more or less in the background. The effect of hiring-out electric motors, which, as already stated, is being practised extensively at Bradford, is thus mutually advantageous, and its natural tendency is to create fresh demands; in fact, the municipality which includes this scheme in its electric light undertaking offers a great inducement to the influx and establishment of new industries within its area.

With a more complete return to a multiplicity of industrial operations, there may also revive some neglected trades. From an hygienic point of view, the electric motor is far and away the best; it is cleanly in its working, gives off no deleterious gases, and displaces the boiler and smoky chimney. One of the ultimate results must also be the raising of the status of the working part of the community. By becoming his own master the artisan gains self-respect, becomes more resourceful, and therefore a more important member of society; and the more intelligent interest which he will display in his business must appreciably affect the general welfare of the country.